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In late January, a home raid on the northeast side of Des Moines received national attention. The SERT team executed a search warrant on the Des Moines home because of stolen property and two people with criminal ties believed to be inside.

SERT Team Commander Sgt. Royal Kerchee said authorities discovered the homeowner’s son, Justin Ross, had an app on his phone that monitored the feed coming from the home’s surveillance cameras.

Kerchee said technology such as this heightens the danger of a SWAT team’s job. He said it gives the suspect the advantage.

“It allows them more time to see us coming, to arm themselves, hide the narcotics or hide whatever they are trying to hide, or hide themselves,” Kerchee said.

Authorities said they are seeing criminals use technology like this more often.

“It’s just unfortunate that this is a tool that drug suspects are using,” Kerchee said.

Four SWAT officers were wounded in Indianapolis a week earlier when a suspect allegedly fired a gun at them while they executed a search warrant on his home. Police said the suspect was able to monitor their movements through the feed on his video cameras.

The SERT team said the best thing to do is train officers to be prepared in any situation.